A South Korean sea-to-land cruise missile is fired from a submarine during a drill.

North Korea’s National Defense Commission (NDC) has accused the US of hypocrisy for remaining silent over Seoul’s recent missile test while denouncing Pyongyang’s launches.

“The US double-dealing attitude and despicable mode of action has been brought to light,” a spokesman for the NDC said in a Friday statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency.

“As long as the US persists in its hostile policy… according to its high-handed, arbitrary and gangster-like double standards, [North Korea] will push ahead with countermeasures for self-defense to put an end to the policy,” the spokesman added.

The comments came after South Korea said on April 4 that it had test-fired a new ballistic missile that could carry a one-ton payload to any part of North Korea.

The launch was carried out on March 23, two days before Pyongyang test-fired two medium-range ballistic missiles.

The new South Korean missile was produced under a deal reached with the Washington in 2012 to extend the range of the South’s ballistic missile systems.

The NDC spokesman said the silence over South Korea’s launch was in sharp contrast to the US and UN condemnation of the North’s test of the medium-range ballistic missiles.

“If the ballistic missile launched by the South Korean puppet forces is not problematic, the [North’s] launch of satellites or rockets should be no problem either,” the spokesman stated.

On December 12, 2012, Pyongyang announced that it had launched a long-range rocket from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, located in Cholsan County of North Pyongan Province, and successfully placed a satellite into orbit.

However, Washington and its allies said the North Korean rocket launch had been a cover for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The UN Security Council tightened its existing sanctions on Pyongyang as a result.